Officials: Man charged in girlfriend's death in Bastrop County arrested after chase
After a chase southeast of College Station, law enforcement officers have arrested a man accused in the shooting death of his girlfriend in Bastrop County, officials said on Thursday.
Raul Anthony Caballero, 22, of College Station was charged with murder in the killing of his girlfriend, Sofia Vera, said Bastrop County Sheriff Maurice Cook.
A person passing by found her body with a gunshot wound to her face at 8:07 p.m. on Dec. 30 along the road on FM 1704 in Bastrop County, according to a social media post from the sheriff's office.
Vera was 19 years old, according to public records.
Caballero was driving Vera's car when he was arrested Wednesday after he crashing the vehicle Navasota, about 20 miles southeast of College Station, authorities said.
The chase started about 1:07 p.m. Wednesday near Texas 6 and Harvey Mitchell Parkway in Bryan, according to a social media post from the Bryan Police Department. The pursuit continued south on Texas 6 until Caballero crashed his vehicle at the intersection of the highway and Robert Road in Navasota, the post said.
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When officers reached Caballero's vehicle, they found him on the driver's side with a single gunshot wound to his head, according to the Bastrop County sheriff's office. Cabellero remained in the hospital on Thursday with a life-threatening wound, officials said.
During the chase, police said, he struck a Chevrolet SUV on Texas 6, but the SUV's driver was not injured.
Multiple agencies also were involved in the pursuit, including the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Brazos County sheriff’s office and the College Station Police Department.
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The sheriff's office was initially alerted about the case on Jan. 3 when a detective got a call from College Station police saying Vera's parents were trying to file a missing person's report, according to an arrest warrant. Vera lived in Elgin, according to the warrant.
It said the detective found out that Caballero had been using Vera's cellphone after Vera's body was found. Vera's parents told the detective they had last spoken to their daughter between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 30 when she left her home in Elgin in her car, the warrant said. They said they drove to Caballero's apartment in College Station to try to find her but couldn't locate her, according to the warrant.
Vera lived in Elgin but sometimes also lived in College Station with Caballero, according to the Bastrop County sheriff's office.
Cabellero's father told the detective he had dropped off Caballero at a gas station in Elgin between 8 and 9 p.m. on Dec. 30, according to the warrant. It said Caballero got into Vera's car with her in the gas station parking lot.
The detective also found out that Vera worked at a Home Depot in Bastrop and spoke with a co-worker who said he had received a call from Vera's cellphone at 9 p.m. Dec. 30, the warrant said. It said the co-worker reported that the "line was silent for a period of time" before the call disconnected.
The co-worker then said he received a second call from Vera's phone at 10:01 p.m. Dec. 30 and recognized Caballero's voice on the phone, the warrant said. Caballero told the co-worker, according to the warrant, that "he messed up."
The co-worker asked Caballero if Vera was OK, but Caballero would not let the co-worker speak with her, according to the warrant.
The detective called Vera's cellphone on Jan. 3 and Caballero answered, according to the document. Caballero first said he dropped Vera off at a Whataburger restaurant in Paige on Dec. 31, the warrant said. It said Caballero later changed his story, saying he dropped Vera off at the Azteca restaurant in Elgin on Jan. 1.
The detective also found out that Vera's Facebook page had been deleted on Jan. 3, according to the warrant.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Man charged in Elgin woman's death arrested after chase, police say
